Tuesday night will go down as one of the most stunning days in U.S. Soccer history. The Americans lost to Trinidad and Tobago, 2-1, on the final night of World Cup qualifying. The result, along with wins by Panama and Honduras, meant that the United States Men’s National Team failed to qualify for Russia, marking the first time since 1986 that the Americans won’t make it to the World Cup.
In the aftermath of the loss, everyone was in a state of shock. While the United States may not be on the same level as, say, Brazil or Germany, getting through CONCACAF and qualifying for the World Cup had become something of a foregone conclusion. Winning the World Cup in 2018 was unlikely, but go back to the start of the final round of qualifying and ask any American fan, even more unlikely was missing the tournament altogether.
So it’s no surprise that a U.S. Soccer lifer in Taylor Twellman was furious. Twellman, a former player with the national team and current ESPN analyst, took a whole bunch of pent-up frustration and let it out on live television.
Twellman brings up a frequent critique of the United States — in a country that has more than 300 million people and perceived access to the best everything on earth, it’s unfathomable that the Americans can’t beat Trinidad and Tobago. The hope, at least for Twellman (and many soccer fans from coast-to-coast), is that U.S. Soccer will blow everything up and figure out how to cultivate the best footballing talent pool in the world.
But that’s something that won’t happen for years, maybe even decades. For now, the United States missed out on the World Cup, and Taylor Twellman is mad as hell.
